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What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Sun Jul 07, 2019 9:16 am
by Lizzerstoff
Hey Ernie,
I've just noticed there's an update on Android and you mentioned you're switching to Polly by Amazon.
There is a list of available languages on it on Amazon but I cannot include URL references in my post.
I'm extremely worried:
I've been using Catalan, Czech, Finnish and Hungarian regularly and the last two is a must for me. Actually, one of the reason I've chosen FCD back then was because of its fantastic and extensive support of TTS.
Are you planning some solution for folks who need these languages?
Or if I don't update (which is obviously would be my last resort) do I have the choice of the above-mentioned languages in the future?
I'd gladly pay more, patron or whatever but I seriously need those voices, especially Finnish and Hungarian. Hopefully I'm not the only one.
Please write some encouraging note regarding this.
Thank you in advance and have a nice week,
Anikó
Ps.: Sorry if the message got sent more than once, there's a rainstorm underway and something is clogging up my connection.
Re: What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Mon Jul 08, 2019 3:20 pm
by Ernie
Hi Anikó,
It's good that you are giving me feedback. I'm working through this.
Not upgrading FCD won't help you, as any stopping of support will happen at the cloud level, not the app level.
Have you tried Android TTS? On my device I have 3 of the 4 languages you mentioned (not Catalan).
My hope is that people will generally find Android TTS acceptable, but it's very likely the sounds aren't quite as good as the iSpeech sounds.
I'm trying to move away from iSpeech because 1) it's very expense for me and 2) their best voices (including English) have recently changed to lower quality version (as iSpeech is also trying to cut costs).
Keeping support for iSpeech languages that are not in Polly is a possibility. My first step is to reduce my iSpeech usage. I will then work with iSpeech to determine reasonable options.
Ernie
Re: What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Tue Jul 09, 2019 3:49 am
by mrt20
hi Ernie,
I am also worried about the sound quality of Polly by Amazon.I was wondering if you are considering a subscription based FD. I would gladly pay every month or year to contribute to cut your TTS expenses since I am paying subscription fees every month to other apps which are not that essential.
!!
Re: What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Tue Jul 09, 2019 8:50 am
by Ernie
I'm really trying to stay away from subscriptions. I've gotten some good feedback on Polly voices, so hopefully they are OK in general. Again, nothing is set in stone yet.
Re: What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Wed Jul 24, 2019 6:29 am
by taeril
I tried poly voices for Chinese and I find it really great, way better than Android, Siri or iSpeach, actually before poly voices I didn't even use iSpeach for Chinese because Android was better.
But yeah, there could be problem when Amazon doesn't have some languages, it even doesn't support traditional Chinese, though I could get around it as I could get with some effort simplified Chinese for Amazon tts while in still learn with traditional characters.
Re: What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Wed Jul 24, 2019 6:30 am
by taeril
Hope you find your way around. And few months ago when I checked Amazon poly for first time, they had just few languages, based on how fast they added quite many number of languages, I expect they could soon overcome iSpeach in number of languages they support.
Hope you find what's best for you. Maybe for the moment update all your decks with ispeach tts and hope for best.
Sorry for two posts, have problem when posting longer posts on mobile, submit button disappears
Re: What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Sun Sep 08, 2019 8:59 pm
by Ernie
I will be dropping support for iSpeech at the end of this month (September). It's turning out to be too expensive, with no way to reasonably keep a few languages.
For languages not yet supported by Polly, you can use Android TTS and Siri.
I'll be adding new languages as they are supported by Polly. Google also has a TTS product, similar to Amazon Polly, but they don't offer any new languages. I'll keep my eye on this option also.
Re: What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Thu Sep 19, 2019 4:11 am
by Steffen
Hi Earnie,
Not sure whether this is the right place to post this.
I'm learning Greek with Flash Cards and so far have been using the TTS feature. I understand that the support will end by 30 Sep 2019 and I tried to move to Siri as none of the others offer Greek as a language. However, "Download Sound" stays greyed out. Anything I miss?
Cheers, Steffen
Re: What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Thu Sep 19, 2019 7:01 pm
by Ernie
Hi Steffen,
You don't need to download Siri sounds, which is why it's grayed out. Set the language, and return to study screen.
If you've already downloaded mp3 TTS files for cards (e.g. from iSpeech), then these will continue to be used, and will override your Siri setting (for those cards with existing mp3 sounds). If you'd like to delete the mp3 files and use Siri for all your cards, look for the "Delete Existing TTS Files" in the TTS screen.
Wavenet // google cloud tts
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Posted:
Sat Sep 21, 2019 6:59 am
by Ksienzyk
Hi Ernie,
did you think about the google wavenet tts? They dont offer so much languages but maybe they would be close to ispeech and not so expansive? Would it be possible that you backup this words/sentences which users have download to your own server and the provided, when users ask for the same words/sentences the already downloaded tts/mp3-files? would this keep the costs (if legal) in a normal level?
Thanks so much for your wonderful product and regards
Yours
Andreas
Re: What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Mon Sep 23, 2019 1:08 am
by Ernie
Hi Andreas,
I only learned about Google's voices after I programmed Amazon's. Both products look very similar to me at the moment. Google didn't offer any new languages. The Wavenet voices are four times more expensive then Google's base voices, or Amazon's. This still might be acceptable. I'm not planning on making any changes in the near future, but I might add Google voices at a later time, especially if they support new languages.
I agree that one solution could be to save files to "my" server. (Really it would be Microsoft Azure servers, which is what I'm slowly moving to). Of course that incurs usage charges also (both storage and per MB). And with TTS costs fairly reasonable now, and with people using different voices and speeds, I'm not sure it would make sense to do so. Supporting Wavenet might change this due to costs. This all is on the back burner for now. I happy with Amazon for now.
Re: What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Fri Oct 04, 2019 2:49 am
by Guest
Hi all
This is probably described somewhere else but it seems I cannot find the info.
If I want to use Polly or Android TT, how do I do this? Ideally I want to download the sound to my cell phone just like with the old system.
Right now the download button doesn't work. Does it mean I should upgrade the app? I tried that too but it says I am up to date.
Re: What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Sat Oct 05, 2019 3:40 am
by Ernie
Hi,
In the TTS screen, you'll see Voice 1 and Voice 2, and "Download Sounds" under that. Download Sound will be grey if either 1) you've haven't selected an Amazon Polly voice or 2) all your cards already have downloaded mp3 TTS files.
Tap "Voice 1" or "Voice 2", then tap "Amazon Polly" and select a language and select a voice. Return to main TTS screen. Is "Download" still gray? If so, is it possible you already have sound files for all cards?
Re: What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Sun Oct 06, 2019 5:48 am
by Chris-c
Hi Ernie
Sorry if this has been asked before.
On iOS app, I now can’t find a way to download text to speech. There is no option other than to manually record a sound and add it. There is no option to use Siri or amazon polly voices.
I understand u were stopping ispeech, but I thought we were getting Siri or amazon instead.
Pls can you clarify what is going to happen as I am a bit confused about this issue now.
Thanks in advance!!
Chris
Re: What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Mon Oct 07, 2019 2:10 am
by Ernie
Hi Chris-c,
Deck Options > Sounds > TTS
In this TTS screen, you should see the normal "Voice 1", "Voice 2" and "Download Sound" buttons. Do you? Tap "Voice 1". Here you should see options for "Siri" and "Amazon Polly". Do you? If you do see these now, maybe you can tell me more about your confusion. Sorry about that.
Re: What should I do regarding the update about TTS?
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Posted:
Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:59 pm
by Guest
Ernie wrote:Hi,
In the TTS screen, you'll see Voice 1 and Voice 2, and "Download Sounds" under that. Download Sound will be grey if either 1) you've haven't selected an Amazon Polly voice or 2) all your cards already have downloaded mp3 TTS files.
Tap "Voice 1" or "Voice 2", then tap "Amazon Polly" and select a language and select a voice. Return to main TTS screen. Is "Download" still gray? If so, is it possible you already have sound files for all cards?
Thanks Earnie!